Metro reviews

Wednesday, December 07, 2011 - The approach is not fetishistic; US barbecue purists would no doubt find holes big enough to drive a hog through. The baby back ribs are more wet than sticky, the corn a little deflated, the salad bar sad. But a beef rib burger, filled with chunky meat pulled from the bones and hidden under blue cheese dressing, works a treat. Fries are seasoned with an addictive spiced salt and ice-cold Coke floats, served in a metal goblet with long spoons, provide a devastating sugar hit.

Wednesday, September 02, 2009 - A little tower of lobster mousse was the epitome of good old-fashioned fancy French cookery, the sort you don't need teeth to eat. It was delicate and creamy but with a good whack of shellfish flavour boosted by a spoonful or two of lobster bisque and a chunk of lobster claw meat. Coquilles Saint Jacques Parisienne was just as old-school, with the scallops served classically in the shell with a mushroom and white wine cream sauce and pomme puree...Lutyens probably won't change your life - the Conran formula has become too familiar for that - but it might just make your day.

Friday, July 31, 2009 - The menus come stuck to the back of laminated record sleeves, a device once used to sheath vinyl discs, themselves a more chunky forerunner of the MP3 file...Elvis bodyswerves the restaurant trade's current pash for tapas-sized portions in favour of hearty servings of upmarket pub grub...it is seasonal, prepped on the premises, sustainable and free-range rather than frozen, imported, bought cheaply, boiled in the bag and marked up. It's what pub grub should be but seldom is.

Thursday, July 23, 2009 - Chef Stefan Nilsson offers a range of easy-going, uncomplicated dishes with contemporary flair and proper respect for ingredients and flavours...Four fat slices of moist pork loin came in a delicious gravy that had plenty of oomph, and were balanced by a lovely sweet/savoury/salty combination of peas, mushrooms, braised lettuce and smoked bacon. My friend's plaice fillets with sweet potato puree and cockles had some great flavours going on, but needed tweaking...The New Conway is doing all the right things with friendly staff, an unpretentious atmosphere and a menu that goes far beyond average pub grub.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009 - From the open kitchen, wonderful smells wafted from the charcoal oven and grill on which the mains are cooked. The menu is about as candid as it gets: swordfish, monkfish, sea bass, it reads, with a choice of sauce, garlic butter or seafood mayonnaise. A signature main dish of shellfish roasted with garlic and parsley – half a lobster, one scallop roasted in its shell, a handful of mussels, clams and sizeable shrimps – was brilliantly varied and superbly fresh, but small for the money. Roasted skate fell off the bone, beautifully drowning in black butter and given a kick with capers; it was utterly divine.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009 - Its 'traffic light' system of tableside carving, whereby you flip a token from green to red whenever your meat intake levels start nudging critical, is of limited value in practise…The lamb was the major hit: full-flavoured and nicely juicy, but seared to a delicately herbed crisp at the edges. Beef skirt was a surprise show-stopper, benefiting from a gentler cooking process that softened this tasty but often gristly cut. Pork shoulder was similarly successful, the only real misfire being a beef rib

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 - I stopped in one morning and discovered that the new landlord is Nick Armitage, owner of The Picturehouse just down the road and The Kingsdown Vaults in Cotham. He has clear ambitions for The King's Arms: to turn it back into a pub with bags of character, a serious wine list and a menu that makes folk more than happy to trudge up Blackboy Hill…The food we ate and the wine we drank, without wanting to gush, were nothing short of fantastic. In head chef Todd Francis, Armitage has clearly found a man he can trust with his reputation.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009 - The Tiffin Rooms is rather different. It is the latest venture from Balbir Sumal, the restaurateur sometimes referred to as the godfather of the Glasgow curry scene and the man who originally founded the Ashoka chain...The cavernous interior won't win any prizes for charm but with this food at these prices, who cares? Different enough from the time-worn canon of curry favourites to be intriguing, this is fresh and fun Indian food delivered with a final bill that will encourage repeat visits. It's another Balbir beezer.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - Only open a couple of weeks but already mobbed to the rafters on a Wednesday night, the Crabshakk delivers decent seafood in a buzzy setting at affordable prices… We got under way with three of the best crabcakes I've seen. Made almost entirely from white crab meat, they were splendidly light, crisped top and bottom but bursting with salty crab flavour. My seafood chowder was well judged: not too creamy, studded with clams, mussels, slivers of spoots (razor clam) and crunchy with finely chopped veg.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008 - In Glasgow, Ketchup is a bright new burger bar that is doing a good job of polishing the reputation of the hamburger. It's a G1 operation in the former Cul De Sac premises on Ashton Lane and it's pretty impressive. The place creates a happy impression before you even get through the door. Boxes of vibrantly coloured tomatoes, peppers and chillies sit on the porch and sell customers the idea that the food inside is fresh rather than frozen.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008 - It's been a juddery start for The Vaults. When Metro reviewed it shortly after its launch, we were irritated by its slap-dash attitude, the chef's 'supplier problems' and an ineptly cooked side order of vegetables. But that was nine months ago and, after a period of uncertainty, we noticed with interest the arrival of a new head chef. Sean Kyle was on Raymond Blanc's team at Le Manoir Aux Quat'Saisons, and also at Bank, so we thought he might know a thing or two about cooking vegetables. His new menu is upmarket brasserie fare; ambitious but not scarily pretentious.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008 - These days, wherever there is Jamie Oliver, there is hype. Queues around the block, despite drizzling rain, to get into his new restaurant in Bath last week seemed the least of it. Unless you're a party of eight or more, Jamie's Italian doesn't take bookings but if you've ever tried to get a table at Fifteen in Cornwall and been asked which year that's for, you'll agree that's a bit of a godsend.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008 - You can really feel the love that's gone into The Promised Land. With a name like that, what else would you expect? Opened by Nick Davidson and Alan Savory in the spot that Benedicto's Italian restaurant used to occupy, this new Cardiff bar has got a vibe that you can't help but warm to.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008 - Toast is a new bar and restaurant that's situated beneath a block of flats in the financial district of Leeds. Other than its proximity to offices and flats, there's nothing particularly appealing about its location. Quite the opposite, in fact, as it's also slap bang on the site of the ill-fated Lumiere skyscrapers, and as we approached Toast, we were confronted by the wall of imposing bollards that encases the abandoned construction area.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - Tierra Brindisa is not an operation ever likely to be caught on the hop. Within a couple of weeks of opening, it's already running like clockwork, bursting at the seams with Soho's early adopters – diners rhubarbing away about green-lighting and optioning and other self-important whatnot.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - If only the economy was as sturdy as Chez Jules. Whether the country is basking in the sunshine of a financial boom or staring into the chasm of recession, this French bistro has appeared to be bustling with happy diners ever since it opened in 1995.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - There are no prizes for guessing the type of food they serve at Al Dente on Edinburgh's Easter Road. What is more surprising is that Al Dente is there at all. The site used to be occupied by Giancarlo Tinelli's restaurant and Tinelli's had been there forever. The tiny trattoria had been around so long it seemed to be a permanent part of the fabric of the city – like the Scott Monument or the castle or congestion…

Tuesday, September 09, 2008 - The bar and restaurant both look striking, although the latter has so many mirrors that all but the most vain of diners might want to tart themselves up before making a booking. Situated on the first floor, it has tall wrap-around windows that look out to the Castle and along Princes Street. Slightly separated from the rest of the dining room by organza curtains, there are three eye-catching booths for large groups, but the real centrepiece of the room is the glass sculpture that hangs from the restaurant ceiling and down through an oval cut in the floor into the bar below.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008 - Mark Hix is a man with many stellar connections; as the dude behind the Caprice Holdings kitchens (The Ivy, Scott's, J Sheekey and, of course, Le Caprice) he's hobbed and nobbed with le tout London. Surely this can't be why he's received little but slavering reviews since opening this, his first self-owned restaurant?